Nadal and Nalbandian saved a few match points and eventually closed out their match in 1 hour, 19 minutes.

Nadal played in Chile last week for the first time after a seven-month absence with a left-knee injury, losing the singles and doubles final at the VTR Open in Vina Del Mar. He played doubles in Chile with Juan Monaco.

Nadal’s first singles match at Sao Paulo is Thursday.

Nadal, an 11-time Grand Slam winner, will play the Acapulco Open in Mexico later this month.